New car sales soften in August

Mining boom, not the changes to FBT, takes its toll on the new-car market.

September 4 2013

Matt Campbell

With the slowing down of the mining boom, sales of commercial vehicles such as the Toyota HiLux have declined.

The end of the mining boom appears to have taken its toll on the new car market, with sales softening in August according to figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

At the same time predictions of a drop-off in sales by up to 33 per cent due to proposed changes to the way FBT is applied to cars do not appear to have materialised.

Sales of light commercial vehicles to business, government and rental buyers were down 15.3 per cent compared with the same time last year. In particular, the Toyota HiLux - which is in a race to become the best-selling vehicle in 2013 - sold only 2884 units in August, down from 4010 in 2012, a slump of 28 per cent.

But sales in the mining-strong states - Queensland and Western Australia - are down by 3.5 and 8.1 per cent respectively compared to this time last year.

Raw Hire, a company that rents thousands of vehicles to mining sites across WA, says demand remains steady despite the competitive nature in the current climate in the mining sector.

Despite doomsday premonitions from the FCAI and the leasing and financing industries that up to 30 per cent of new-vehicle sales could be affected following the government’s controversial FBT changes, no dramatic or catastrophic results have materialised.

The changes to the company car tax was said to have an enormous impact on new vehicle sales – the FCAI later adjusted its 33 per cent “estimation” to a still high 10 per cent drop - but the figures in the two months following Kevin Rudd’s announcement have seen only minimal impact.

There’s also the effect of this weekend’s federal election, which traditionally impacts consumer confidence as buyers await a potential change of government and the introduction of new policies.

For the past five Australian federal elections sales of new vehicles have been softer in the lead-up month to the election on four occasions.

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In July, Tony Weber, the chief executive of the FCAI, said the FBT changes would have “a dire effect across the car industry”.

“As market leader, this would significantly affect Toyota and in particular our locally-built vehicles which are heavily reliant on sales to business and government fleets,” Weber said at the time.

However, sales in August are down only 0.2 per cent overall - or 216 sales - but private passenger car sales are up by 14 per cent compared to last year, and SUV sales have risen 9.0 per cent. For the full year, SUV sales to private party buyers are up 12.9 per cent, and passenger cars are up 4.8 per cent.

Indeed, Toyota has remained relatively steady in the wake of the tax revisions. The brand has seen rises in the number of sales of its locally-made Camry and Aurion models in August, and the strong Corolla small car continues to boast impressive numbers. This appears to go against the notion that the FBT changes would hit the brand hard due to the popularity of these cars with fleet purchasers.

Holden’s locally-made Commodore saw a rise compared to August 2012 and July 2013 (the first full month of sales of the much-hyped new VF Commodore), registering 2809 sales, and the Cruze small car had a solid month, with 2369 units shifted.

Ford, however, was down significantly in August, with the Falcon continuing its lengthy slump to register just 573 sales. The Territory, too, was down, with 834 units sold.

“The government announced the changes to the FBT and it was only a matter of days that the company was announcing more down days,” he told Drive yesterday. “Ford have made a decision to pull the pin on manufacturing in Australia – it’s no coincidence that there’s been a massive drop in their sales.

However, the FCAI is still standing firm on its position that the proposed FBT changes were hurting hard.

It released a statement today suggesting it expected sales to be 98,000 for the month of August based on the growth seen in the market prior to the FBT announcement. However, the sales figures were slightly lower, at 93,336.

"Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, the FBT change is impacting on sales data. This indicates consumers are having to stall or forgo their purchases of new vehicles," says Weber, continuing to stick by his assertion that sales will decrease into 2014 “as the full impact on fleet sales works its way through the system”.